HI136 The History of GermanyLecture 14

West Germany

The Basic Law• Based on 4 key principles:

• The rule of law• Democratic participation for all• Federalism• Social welfare

• Established the Federal Republic of Germany as a federal parliamentary democracy with separation of powers between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government.

• President of the Republic – a largely ceremonial head of state elected by Bundestag members & representatives of the federal Länder.

• Bi-cameral parliament:• Bundestag – Elected every 4 years through universal suffrage. 50% of

members directly elected, 50% elected through party lists. Parties need to win over 5% of the vote to gain representation.

• Bundesrat – Made up of representatives of the Länder, has the power to approve or veto legislation.

• Federal Constitutional Court – based on the US Supreme Court, designed to protect the constitution and had powers to settle disputes between the federal government and the Länder.

• Chancellor – head of government & elected by the Bundestag. Can only be removed from office through a constructive vote of no confidence.

Party Politics• SPD – Basically the same party which

had existed since 1875. Espoused a programme calling for public ownership & a planned economy. Committed to reunification and opposed European integration in the 1950s. From 1959 moved away from its Marxist roots towards a more inclusive and moderate position.

• Christlich Demokratische Union (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) – a break from the pre-1933 parties that amalgamated the constituency of the old Centre Party with a number of centre-right groups. Formed in June 1945, it was based on the principles of Christian Socialism & stood for free market economics and opposed economic liberalism & social democracy.

• Freie Demokratische Partei (Free Democratic Party, FDP) - Founded in Dec. 1948, it stood for individualism and liberalism & appealed to those who were alienated by the socialism of the SPD & the Clericalism of the CDU. Despite its small size & limited electoral strength it wielded considerable power & influence, often acting as ‘kingmaker’. Members of the FDP served in nearly every federal coalition between 1949 & 1990, and it provided 2 of West Germany’s 5 Presidents.

The 1949 Bundestag Elections

Party % deputies

      CDU/CSU 31,0% 139

SPD 29,2% 131 FDP 11,9% 52

KPD/DKP 5,7% 15 DRP 1,8% 5 DP 4,0% 17 BP 4,2% 17

Zentrum 3,1% 10 Sonstige 9,1% 16

Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard and

President TheodorHeuss, 1949

Election Results, 1949-89

Source: T. Kirk, Cassell’s Dictionary of Modern German History (2002)

Why were extremist parties not successful?

• Allied control: parties needed concession of High Commissioner.

• SRP forbidden 1951 by Federal Constitutional Court.

• KPD forbidden 1956 by Federal Constitutional Court.

• Right wing parties as Bund der Heimatvertriebenen und Entrechteteten (BHE) absorbed by CDU/CSU.

• Economic success story.

Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967)

• Born in Cologne, he was a devout Catholic and passionate Rhinelander.

• 1917-33: Served as mayor of Cologne.

• 1921-33: Chairman of the Prussian Council of State.

• 1934: Imprisoned by the Nazis.• 1948-49: Chairman of the

Parliamentary Council.• 1949-63: Chancellor of the

FRG.• Pragmatic & authoritarian he

has been compared to Bismarck and Stresemann.

• Determined to integrate Germany into Western Europe, but did too little to address the problems of the recent past.

Dealing with the Nazi Legacy

• Measures to confront the Nazi past limited in the 1950s.

• Moves to compensate victims of National Socialism, extremist parties banned by the Constitutional Court.

• But many former Nazis in the civil service – Hans Globke, head of the Chancellors Office (1953-1963) had drafted Nazi anti-Semitic legislation in the 1930s.

• The judiciary reluctant to censure sadistic Nazi judges.

• Damaged Germany’s reputation abroad & led to a feeling that the Germans had buried their heads in the sand rather than confronting the legacy of National Socialism.

Hans Globke (1898-1973)

The Wirtschaftswunder (‘economic miracle’)

• Rapid economic growth after 1949 • Unemployment fell from 1.9 million in 1950 to 200,000 in 1961.• GNP trebled during the 1950s, annual growth averaged just under

8%• Reasons for ‘economic miracle’:

• Introduction of the Deutschmark halted inflation.• US investment through the Marshal Plan ($4.4 million).• Large, adaptable workforce (partly made up of refugees from Eastern

Europe).• German determination to pull together for the national good – few

disputes between labour and capital.• Germany had fewer burdens on her exchequer than other powers – no

overseas commitments, colonial wars etc.• The Korean War (1950-53) increased demand for industrial goods and

removed reluctance to buy German goods – exports boomed.• Gap between rich and poor widened, but standards of living rose

across the board – average income for industrial workers rose by 250% between 1950 and 1962.

The Social Market Economy• The free market allowed to drive the economy, with minimal

state interference.• The role of the state to pick up the slack left by the market

and introduce welfare measures to cancel out the inequalities caused by capitalism.

• General agreement that the state should provide a safety net to make sure that citizens did not fall below a certain standard of living.

• Equalization of Burdens Law (1950): transferred wealth from the well off to provide for those who had lost everything during the war.

• Introduction of 40 hour working week.• 1957: Pensions increased & index-linked so they would keep

pace with cost of living.• 1957: Bundesbank set up.• However, economic growth began to slow in the 1960s and

stalled in the 1970s.

Society• Defeat and division wrought profound changes in

German society:• The old Prussian Junker class had lost their economic

and political power• The ‘Ruhr Barons’ who had dominated German

industry were in decline.• More social mobility and a ‘levelling out’ of German

society.• Women outnumbered men due to war-time losses,

and under the Federal Republic there were changes in gender roles:

• The Basic Law guaranteed equal rights for women• Law of Equality of the Sexes (1957) extended property

rights• More employment opportunities with the economic

miracle• But women still earned 40% less than men on average

• Nevertheless, West German society in the 1950s and 60s was still conservative and patriarchal.

• Increased prosperity due to the economic miracle was slow to filter through to ordinary Germans.

• But by the end of the 1950s the population was growing, the working week had been reduced to 45 hours and ownership of consumer goods had increased.

Foreign Policy• Adenauer’s aims:

• International recognition by integration, Democratisation by Westernisation.

• Reconciliation with France.• Close relationship with United States – essential for

security in bipolar international system (Soviet Threat)• Aims of the Western Powers:

• Defeat German militarism and idea of revenge by integration.

• Factors which helped rehabilitation: • Perceived Soviet Threat: especially after 1949 (Soviet

Atomic Bomb) – German participation needed, good bargaining position for Adenauer: concessions.

• Korean War (1950-1953).

Foreign Policy• 1951: Signing (in Paris) of the European Coal and Steel

Community (ECSC).• 1952: Signing (in Paris) of the European Defense Community

(EDC). The ‘Stalin note’ offering a united neutral Germany.• 1954: Signing of the Paris Agreements. FRG/BRD is invited

to join NATO permitting West German rearmament and Italy and the FRG/BRD accede to the Western European Union (WEU).

• 1955: Full sovereignty returned to the Federal Republic.• 1957: The Treaty of Rome is signed establishing the

European Economic Community. The Saar returns to Germany as a Land (to be followed in 3 years by economic reintegration).

• 1963: French-German Friendship Treaty is signed in Paris. • 1969-72: Ostpolitik = attempts to normalize relations

between the two German states.• 1972: Basic Treaty – German states agree to develop good

relations, settle disputes without force & respect one another’s independence.

West Germany after Adenauer

• 1965-69: Grand Coalition.• 1969 election: CDU = 46.1% of vote, SPD = 42.7%, FDP =

5.8% - SPD-FDP Coalition formed under Willy Brandt.• Wide-ranging reforms: marriage & family law modernized,

welfare reform & educational reform. A response to growing unrest in the 1960s.

• 1974: Brandt forced to resign in spy scandal.• 1982: SPD & FDP unable to agree on a budget – vote of no-

confidence brought the CDU’s Helmut Kohl to power.• 1983 election: CDU won nearly 50% of the vote, the Green

Party emerges as a national political party with 5.4% of the vote & 27 deputies in the Bundestag.

• A move to the right in the 1980s, accompanied by efforts to cast off the stigma of Nazism & take pride in being German.

Konrad Adenauer (CDU)1949-1963

Ludwig Erhard (CDU)1963-1966

Kurt Georg Kiessinger (CDU)1966-1969

Willy Brandt (SPD)1969-1974

Helmut Schmidt (SPD)1974-1982

Helmut Kohl (CDU)1982-1998

Conclusion• The Federal Republic became a stable

parliamentary democracy.• Nevertheless, continuity with the past,

particularly under Adenauer.• Rapid economic recovery leading to

prosperity.• But this brought its own problems:

• Student unrest• High taxes

• West Germany ‘a viable democracy with a distinctly conservative colouration.’ (Carr)